National Gallery of Canada

Roxy Paine

One Hundred Foot Line

About The Artist

Roxy Paine was born in 1966 in New York, and raised in McLean in Virginia. He studied at both the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York.

Paine studies a new subject intently, learning its “language” – its elements, rules, time frames, and limitations. Such study was key to his Replicants a series of realistic re-creations of toxic mushrooms, poison ivy, weeds and other illicit vegetation. Paine’s Replicants evolved with his study of language systems, as did the series of technologically complex machines he built and programmed to create paintings and sculptures seemingly on their own accord.

In the late 1990s Paine began working on the Dendroids series – large-scale stainless steel sculptures of trees that masterfully synthesize the organic and the artificial. Created using industrial tools and materials, the Dendroids reflect his statement on how technology shapes human interaction with the natural world.

Paine’s work has been exhibited internationally and is included in collections at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art (The Netherlands) and the Montenmedio Arte Contemporaneo (Spain).